by admin | Jan 8, 2021 | Blog, Uncategorized
In any year it’s easy to lose focus on our finance goals, but when there’s a global pandemic going on it’s even harder! However, I wanted to give you some encouragement and motivation to show you how to stay inspired and on track.
We often find it tricky to keep our eyes on the prize. We get distracted by the endless possibilities of what everyone else is doing and what all our friends have. It’s all too easy to get side-swiped by what you don’t have, or haven’t managed to do, and the reasons behind that – usually financial!
What I want to help you with is staying focused on your goals!
Money mindset and financial taboo
When it comes to money, there’s a lot of weird stuff that comes up for most of us. A lot of it stems from our childhoods and the way we were brought up. For me that was in the church. And boy oh boy do church and finance have some bizarre clashes in personality going on!
So many of us brought up to believe that it’s impolite or embarrassing to talk about money. Money also holds an emotional connection for many of us. It can bring on an anxious reaction or trigger other behaviors. In my Facebook group, one of the things the Ninjas shy away from is talking about finance.
So what exactly is going on here?
I’ve talked about the importance of having a positive money mindset before, but I haven’t really gone into my own personal journey. So I’m going to share my story with you because I believe you may have experienced similar growing up.
At one point in my life I believed that making money was evil. That’s what I’d grown up hearing in church. That “money was the root of all evil” and that people who made money were greedy and evil and nothing good ever came from money. That the love of money was a sin and it was the Devil’s work.
But as I got older I began to do my own research, really looking at the scriptures and the context of quotes like the one above – which is the infamous 1 Timothy 6:10: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.” Drummed into many of us as kids, when we look at it as adults, we can’t forget to add the love of in front of money here.
I’ve had to relearn a lot of my mindset around money. Money builds churches, hospitals, and homeless shelters – communities! We should be pro making money, and what we should stand up to is using money in a way that harms people and the planet.
It’s time for us women in business to overcome the money taboo!
Money is a tool!
Money isn’t evil. It’s an object that we can use for good or evil. And it really can be a fantastic tool to help us make a difference. We can utilize it to make the world a better place. It can help people.
Money can help us reach our goals and without money it can be quite tricky to take care of the people we love. We owe it to ourselves as women to achieve financial success. We owe it to our children to see us earning money and not being ashamed of it.
Stay focused on YOUR finance goals
You might think your goals are yours…but what if you’ve been influenced by other people and they don’t align with your values? The way you can get laser-focused and ensure that your goals truly are YOURS is to look at your soul goals and see if they marry up with the money targets. Are they challenging enough or are you playing small to please others? Or have you set something that is only going to end in heart ache?
Take some time to journal on this one. Honor your truth. Listen to your gut. It never fails to tune into your intuition.
What will inspire you to stay focused on your finance goals?
We’re all different and have our own things that help us. For me, my faith is one of them, I utilize it every day of my life! Now that I’ve made peace with the age old conflict between church and money, I know I can use my faith to keep me on track.
Perhaps it’ll be your family that inspires you to stay in your lane and reach your goals. Is it to extend your home or find somewhere a little less snug? Or maybe it is an adventure that you want to go on, and you’re able to visualize yourself going on that trip – each time you lose a little momentum, practice picturing yourself doing that thing!
“Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver.”
Ayn Rand
Not only do we need to have conversations around the green stuff, we need to be open about how finance looks and feels for us! We have got to persist in setting ourselves financial goals, and start asking for what we want and need. Because let’s not forget what money can do for us!
I hope you’re going to use this as an opportunity to start talking about money more, encouraging conversations about finances with your business friends, employees and your family. If you found this blog post helpful, send the link to a friend – sharing is caring! Or come and continue the money talk over on Facebook in our Ninja community!
If you enjoyed reading this and would like to get more involved, we’re an army of childcare professionals who are sharing ninja-sharp skills to transform our businesses into childcare empires! This is Childcare Ownership all Grownup! Interested in becoming more involved in the community and to grow your business? Join us for more tips on how to make your childcare business the success it deserves to be! Or if you prefer Instagram, come and say hi there!
by admin | Oct 16, 2020 | Blog
When you’re marketing your childcare business, do you stay true to your values? I’ve witnessed so many childcare owners who feel they can’t be themselves while they’re wearing their business hats. So I want to dive into this a little more in this blog.
It’s often said that opposites attract, but when it comes to business I’m not convinced. Over the last decade I’ve found that this isn’t true. Actually, it’s been quite the contrary in my experience and those businesses I’ve supported through mentoring and coaching.
I’m going to share with you how things began to change for my business and my clients when we’ve stayed true to what we believe in. And why I’ll be encouraging you to do the same…
What does stay true to yourself mean?
Sounds a bit wishy-washy doesn’t it, “staying true to yourself”? So what am I talking about? Well, what I mean is your values. The absolute non-negotiables in how you run your business. My own values are based on family, faith, hard work and commitment. All of them are vital ingredients to my day-to-day work and the way I lead in my daycares and in Childcare Ninjas.
What do they look like for you and your childcare business? Write down the values that you couldn’t function without.
What happens when you don’t stay true to yourself?
When you ignore what you believe, and don’t wear your heart on your sleeve, you business is misaligned with your purpose. This means that you’re leaving a part of yourself at the door when you got to work, which takes a lot of energy. Hiding a large portion of your personality or values isn’t healthy and can cause a lot of resentment.
I used to keep my faith hidden, as if it were not an essential part of my life. I didn’t talk about it, and I worried about sharing my beliefs with colleagues, families and employees. And when I was hiding a huge piece of my puzzle, I didn’t feel whole and I was not coming across as authentic. Which then had an impact on my success as a business owner, because people aren’t stupid. They know when something isn’t right.
And due to the misalignment I was portraying, the families who were coming to my doors weren’t the ideal clients I was wanting. Eventually it got to the point where it felt too important to leave my values out of my brand. I couldn’t hold it all back any more. My sense of purpose was renewed: I knew things had to change.
Soak it up
When you allow your business to marinade in your values, it soaks it all up! Your business benefits massively from having some depth and purpose, which comes from the beliefs you uphold. Just like me and my Christian faith. Once I allowed myself to share my beliefs and no longer hid them away, I found that I was attracting people whose views aligned with mine. They felt comfortable entrusting their babies to me because I demonstrated values they themselves believed in.
I’ve now built two successful businesses on the foundations of my faith and I’m proud of the fact that my values are so ingrained in every ounce of my little empire!
Getting the message right
I’m not saying you need to sing your faith from the rooftops, or start handing out pamphlets about your beliefs to parents. You don’t need to hammer your beliefs home to your families, merely embody the values you hold in the running of your business.
I mentioned that my values include commitment. Every day in my work I model this value in the way I support my families and go the extra mile to meet their needs. I am fully committed to being the best in the game and to making sure the kids in my daycare centers have the time of their lives while also learning!
How I market my business is the same. Not by writing all over my marketing materials about what my beliefs are, but instead demonstrating my values through the photos we use or the copy I write. I focus on the importance of family – my story – and the hard work of my teams and our commitment to the children and families we work with. I also give a nod to my faith in the quotes I have on the walls of my office, or in the cross I wear to work. It’s who I am. Something I can’t believe I used to hide!
The message isn’t always in the way you market, it’s in the crafting of your brand messaging and the way you grow brand awareness. And it’s really important that you get this right sooner than I did! When you nail your messaging, it gives families who work with you an awareness and understanding of who you are! And by doing so…
…You’ll call in the families you want to serve!
So in changing the way I do things, by being my authentic self and leaving nothing in the porch as I step into my business owner role, I am calling in the people I want to work with. I want to work with families who share the same values and beliefs that I hold dear to me.
When you attract those families, it makes relationships run much more smoothly because you’re all singing from the same hymn sheet. They’ll know you and trust you, and will feel comfortable handing their little treasures over to you. And they’ll also stand behind you because they share your values and beliefs.
Share who you are
Basically, what I’m encouraging you to do is stop hiding who you really are. Don’t try to please everyone for the sake of it. And never be afraid of sharing your core values. These are the things that make you YOU. And those are the reasons people will seek you out.
So go ahead! Share you – the real you! The families who your values speak to will adore you and want to have you and your business in their lives. I know, because sharing my faith and my other core beliefs made such an impact on my business growth and also a huge change in my own well-being.
What’s stopping you from staying true to you? How can you quit hiding and instead grow into your purpose? I’d love to know. Leave a comment or head to the Childcare Ninja Facebook group to discuss. Join us for more tips on how to make your childcare business the success it deserves to be!
While you’re here, are you in the Childcare Ninja membership yet? We’re an army of childcare professionals who are sharing ninja-sharp skills to transform our businesses into childcare empires! This is Childcare Ownership all Grownup! It’s full of exclusive resources and support to help you grow your Childcare Business.
